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How does nationality diversity emerge?

In order to understand the (dis)similarities within Boards, we study the different career pathways that lead to the Boards. In general, we study the contexts in which careers of top managers develop in different countries in order to understand how people move into the economic power elites.

Project 1: Corporate Governance systems and board composition

Janine Elbertsen and Kees van Veen focussed on the accessibility of supervisory and executive Boards for foreign topmanagers within the Germany, the Netherlands en the United Kingdom. Important determinants that were considered are the differences in Corporate Governance Codes and how they determine the differences in recruitment pratices of new managers. Different codes and their related recruitment practices turned out to be highly relevant for understanding the differences between the three countries. The project won the MSc Thesis price 2005-2006 of the Faculty of Management and Organization of the University of Groningen. 


  • Janine Elbertsen, The one and two tier board structure related to its nationality mix’, MSc Thesis, International Business and Management, Faculty of Management and Organization, University of Groningen, Winner of the Msc Thesis Price 2005-2006.
  • Kees van Veen en Janine Elbertsen, (----) How open are Boards of Directors for Foreign Managers?: different corporate governance systems and their recruitment effects in the Germany, The Netherlands and the UK, under review.

Project 2: M&A and nationality diversity in boards

Wesley Kaufman and Kees van Veen focus on the role of mergers and acquisitions on differences in nationality diversity in European executive boards.


Project 3: explaining differences in nationality diversity processes over time.

Floris de Haan and Kees van Veen extend the project of Janine Elbertsen to boards in 15 European countries. 

Last modified:18 October 2018 08.57 a.m.